It Was Probably Green
by carissa1
Summary: How can the same girl fall for Draco and befriend Ginny? Third person (Slytherin) perspective of GoF and OotP.
1. It Was Probably Green Chapter 01

Chapter 1  
Jude was sitting at the shabby kitchen table with textbooks spread out around her. It was the last day of the summer holidays, and Jude was trying to cram nearly a solid week of work into the remaining hours.  
  
Most of her two-month break had been spent sitting for the two-year-old wizard whose parents lived in a flat just downstairs. Although the Jude didn't really care for children, she was happy about the new Galleons she had earned and had used the baysitting money (as well as all of her birthday and Christmas money from the last two years) to buy a new wand. Still, six hours a days with a toddler usually left Jude with little energy to do anything but read old paperbacks in a warm bath, so she had only worked sporadically on her holiday assignments. Hence the last minute push to finish her homework.  
  
"Hey Jude, you got a letter!" Laura called out as she came into the flat. "Who knows how long it's been sitting in the Muggle mailbox downstairs.  
  
"Gol' Jude," Laura said shaking her head as she closed the door and sat down at the table, "you haven't moved since I left this morning."  
  
"Don't I know! This awful Transfiguration assignment is taking ages. Just because a couple of stupid Gryffindors tried to turn all the toilets in the school into badgers, that stupid McGonagall woman gave the whole school extra work for the summer holidays."  
  
"Good thing you left it for the last day then," Laura said laughing. "What is the assignment anyway?"  
  
"We have to write a research paper on the various properties of inanimate objects that are capable of being transfigured into animals. McGonnagall wants us to explain why you can transfigure a mouse into a snuffbox, but why you can't turn other random animals into whatever object you please."  
  
"So how's it going?"  
  
"Well," Jude said, with no small amount of pride, "I just finished a section on why toilet seats can't be transfigured into animals, though I can't quite figure out how those stupid Griffindors managed to make the toilet seats grow fur."  
  
"Eww, that is so disgusting!" Laura said.  
  
Jude laughed, "Yeah - but it was pretty funny to hear the horrible screams that morning when Pansy Parkinson went to use the lavatory."  
  
Laura smiled in appreciation, but couldn't help saying, "As long as it wasn't you, it seems funny."  
  
Ignoring her sister's reprimand, Jude's eyes flickered to the envelope Laura had laid down on the table when she came in. Laura looked like she was flipping through Jude's Transfiguration textbook, but Jude knew that she was waiting to see what the letter said. They both knew that the letter was from their father, since he was the only person who ever sent them letters through the Muggle post. It had been quite a while since he had sent either of them a letter, so Jude wasn't surprised that Laura was curious what it said.  
  
Jude tore open the envelope and scowled at its contents. It was a brightly colored birthday card addressed to her - but Jude's birthday wasn't until mid-November.  
  
Laura looked up from across the table and saw the angry look on her sister's face. "Jude," she said slowly, "I'm sure that he was just trying to be thoughtful."  
  
"Well, I don't think I would ever use the word 'thoughtful' to describe someone who can't remember your birthday," Jude grumbled and started to rummage through the fridge.  
  
With her back to Laura, Jude sighed and tried to control her angry thoughts. Her parents had divorced more than three years ago, but Jude still hadn't forgiven their father for moving away after the split. Laura tried to make excuses for him, saying that since he was from America anyway, it made sense for him to want to move back there. But now that he had a new wife and a new baby, even Laura had to admit that he did seem to be forgetting about them.  
  
Getting a birthday card three months early was almost as bad as not getting a card at all. Even worse was the message inside. The preprinted message said: "Hope you have a happy special day!" Her father had just scrawled the words "Love, Dad" underneath. He didn't ask about school, her summer holidays, or even Laura. Plus there was the fact that he didn't seem to remember which was her "special day".  
  
As furious as she was with her father for sending her a birthday card months before her actual birthday, Jude didn't want to upset Laura. Since Laura was a telepath, this was more difficult than just trying to put a brave face on the situation. Jude pulled a soda from the fridge, pushed her anger deep down inside and turned to face her sister.  
  
"I'm really sorry, Jude," Laura said. "I know that this really hurt your feelings -"  
  
"Nah, I'm just a little snappish from spending all day on my school work." Jude concentrated on feeling harried about her homework and tried not to think about her father.  
  
"Ah, okay," Laura said skeptically. Then she slipped into her peacemaker role: "Look, Jude, let's not tell Mum about this. It'll just make her upset."  
  
"Fine. But she's gonna be upset anyway if she comes home to find no dinner and you not finished packing."  
  
"Fair enough," Laura said, searching through the cupboards for something to make for dinner. Jude felt guilty that she wasn't helping with dinner - after all Laura had to help their mother with so much with the housework when Jude was away at school. Unlike a lot of the other students Jude knew at school, she and Laura didn't have house elves to help with cooking and other chores. Laura and Jude couldn't even use any cleaning charms to speed up the work, since they were underage.  
  
Their mother could have used a spell or a charm to cook up a quick dinner when she got home, but she had been getting home so late recently - especially since the Quidditch World Cup - that Jude and Laura didn't want to add to her worries. Instead, Laura and Jude had taken turns making dinner.  
  
By the time their mother, Cassandra Madley, came home, Laura had pasta and a salad on the table. Jude quickly stifled the thought pasta, again?, but judging from the happy look on Laura's face, Jude didn't think she had noticed.  
  
The three of them had a pleasant meal, which was punctuated by Laura asking Cassandra to tell her more stories about Hogwarts. By the end of the meal, Laura's excitement about starting at Hogwarts the next day had removed some of the tired look from their mother's face.  
  
"So how do they decide which house you belong in?" Laura wanted to know.  
  
"Well," Cassandra said, "you put this hat on your head, it's called the Sorting Hat. It sort of looks inside of your head to see which house would suit you best."  
  
"Wow, I wonder which house I'll be in."  
  
"Hufflepuff, I'm sure," Cassandra said with not a small amount of pride. "That's my old house. Children are often put in the same house as their parents."  
  
"But Jude isn't in Hufflepuff, right?" Laura asked. "What's the name of your house again, Jude?"  
  
"Er, I'm in Slytherin," Jude said, and pretended not to notice the embarrassed look on her mother's face.  
  
"Oh," Cassandra said quickly, "I mean that children are sometimes put in the same house that their parents were in. You know Mandy Carbunkle? I was in Hufflepuff with both of her parents, but when Mandy went to Hogwarts last year, she was sorted into Ravenclaw. I wasn't surprised that she was put in to Ravenclaw, she's a very bright young girl. And you remember Scott Daggersworth didn't get sorted into Gryffindor, even though his family has been in that house for generations. Um, let's see . . . there was -"  
  
"So why would someone be put into Ravenclaw instead of Hufflepuff?" Laura interrupted to ask.  
  
As Cassandra started to describe the differences between the four houses, Jude was silently thankful that Laura was able to sense their mother's discomfort and change the topic.  
  
That Jude had been sorted into Slytherin three years ago was still an uncomfortable subject between mother and daughter. Jude had been so nervous to send her first owl home after arriving at Hogwarts her first year. She knew that her mother was going to be disappointed that she hadn't been sorted into Hufflepuff like her mother and her grandmother. True, her grandfather (who died before Jude was born) had been in Ravenclaw, but Jude could tell that her mother had her heart set on having her oldest daughter follow in her footsteps.  
  
Jude herself sometimes wondered why she had been sorted in to Slytherin. Not that she thought she would have felt more at home in one of the other houses, but she had never felt very comfortable with the Slytherins . . .  
  
Cassandra was finishing her description of the different houses. ". . . and people who are sorted into Slytherin are usually very -"  
  
"-ambitious." Jude interrupted to say and tried to look like she was not upset by the conversation.  
  
Cassandra looked a little surprised at Jude's description of Slytherin, but smiled quickly and said: "Yes, some very successful wizards have come out of Slytherin."  
  
Avoiding Jude's eyes for a moment, Cassandra looked at the clock and said, "Oh, it certainly is late. Laura, you'd best go to bed now. Tomorrow is going to be a very exciting day."  
  
"But Mum," Laura complained, "it won't take us that long to get to the station tomorrow."  
  
"Bed!" Cassandra ordered.  
  
When Laura finally went into the bedroom, Cassandra turned to Jude with a concerned look on her face. "Judith, you don't sound very excited about returning to school tomorrow. Don't you like Hogwarts?"  
  
"Er, no Mum. It's fine."  
  
"You know," Cassandra said with a small smile, "I may not be a telepath like your sister, but I am your mother and I can tell when you're not telling the truth."  
  
"Well," Jude said slowly, "I am a little nervous about my new classes. I don't think that I'll be very good at Divination."  
  
"Now there's something I can help with," said Cassandra, who worked as a Seer for the Ministry of Magic. She and several other witches who had the gift of Sight, spent their days cramped in tiny cubicles writing reports on the likely success of various proposed Ministry projects.  
  
"You'll probably start with something simple, like tea leaves or palm reading," she continued. "Hmmm. . . Or maybe you'll do some simple astrology."  
  
Jude watched her mother settle back in her chair. She had cut her hair recently, which made her look years younger. It was clear that some part of her liked working at the Ministry, but her hours were really long, and her work wasn't considered very prestigious. Half the women Cassandra worked with were closer to Cassandra's daughter's age than her own, because the job was generally considered a stopping off point for women who planned to marry and stop working.  
  
Jude couldn't understand why her mother didn't try for a promotion. A promotion would certainly pay more, and their little flat was rather shabby. Jude knew the extra money would really help - especially since her father had stopped sending those checks. . .  
  
Her mother kept talking to her about astrology. "As a Scorpio, you have a quiet exterior, but it conceals a very powerful personality. You may not always let people know how you feel, but you eventually get your own way," Cassandra smiled at her daughter. "We can do some palm reading if you want."  
  
"No thanks, Mum." Jude watched Cassandra's smile falter and started to worry that she had hurt her feelings. "But, ah, can I send you an owl if I have any questions?" she stammered lamely.  
  
"Of course, dear." Cassandra sighed. "Now why don't you run along to bed."  
  
Later that night, listening to Laura, who was obviously too excited to sleep, toss and turn, Jude thought about her first night at Hogwarts. Her mother had given her the same sort of vague description of the Sorting Hat that she had just given to Laura before she left, making it sound as though the Hat acted as little more than a litmus test. Jude had been so shocked when the Hat started speaking to her that she almost fell off the stool.  
  
Let's see, it had whispered let's see where you belong. Hmmm . . . I'm not really sure where to put you.  
  
Just thinking back to that day made Jude sick to her stomach. She lay in bed, trying to think about something else, but the same doubting thoughts came back to her: What would things be like, she wondered, if the Hat had made a different decision? If Jude had convinced it to put her somewhere else?  
  
* * *  
  
Cassandra had remained sitting at the table after the girls had gone to bed.  
  
It was clear that Jude didn't like school, but she refused to admit that she was having any problems. Cassandra knew that Jude had taken all of the money she had saved to Diagon Alley to buy herself a new wand. She couldn't help but feel guilty that she wasn't able to buy her daughters new things - that she had to send them off to school with second-hand wands and robes.  
  
She worried more about Jude than she did for Laura. Cassandra knew that there were plenty of students in some of the other houses whose families didn't have money, but the Slytherin students all seemed to come from much more affluent backgrounds.  
  
She's probably just going through a rough patch, Cassandra tried to tell herself. After all, thirteen is such an awkward age.  
  
And tempted as Cassandra was to use her Gift to assuage her concerns about her daughter, Cassandra had a personal policy not to "view" her daughters' futures. She had made only exception. During Jude's first year, Cassandra had deviated from her otherwise firm policy after hearing that Hogwarts children were being paralyzed. Eventually, Cassandra had taken a quick Look and determined that Jude was in no immediate danger, but she had resisted any long-term visions.  
  
Last week's story in the Daily Prophet about the World Quidditch Cup also had Cassandra worried. The Ministry had her department working overtime since Death Eaters and the Dark Mark had been seen at the sporting event. Everyone wanted to know if there would there be more sightings. At least everyone knows that Hogwarts will be safe Cassandra thought. The presence of Professor Dumbledore and Mad Eye Moody at Hogwarts guaranteed the students' safety, so she couldn't imagine that Jude was worried about that.  
  
She's probably just upset about regular school stuff, Cassandra concluded, standing up from the table. Too bad she didn't end up in Hufflepuff - it was such a pleasant House. Cassandra sighed again and went to bed.  
  
* * *  
  
She was walking down a spiral stone staircase. She could barely see a meter in front of her face and she heard low chanting coming from somewhere below.  
  
At the bottom of the stairs she stepped into a large vaulted chamber, which was lit only by the moonlight shining down the staircase behind her. When her eyesight adjusted, she could see the walls were lined with figures in dark, hooded robes. As she stepped into the room, they turned and bowed to her, making her feel welcome. She had never felt this accepted by her schoolmates or even her family.  
  
The tallest figure detached himself from the rest and took hold of her arm. He pressed his wand to the skin above her wrist. She closed her eyes, but she could still smell the flesh burning. She just wanted to concentrated on the murmuring of the other figures around her - they were all so happy that she was there - but the pain as the mark was burned onto her skin was too much. . .  
  
* * *  
  
Jude didn't remember the strange dream when she set her satchel on the train platform and glanced around at all of the students saying goodbye to their parents the next morning. Even though she and her sister lived only a short underground ride from King's Cross station, they had arrived only minutes before the train was supposed to leave for Hogwarts.  
  
The morning had been a hurried mess, as Cassandra couldn't find her wand. Jude got stuck braiding Laura's hair, which had taken forever, while their mother stalked around the apartment muttering to herself about the lost wand. Jude finally asked why she didn't perform a summoning charm to locate it, only to have her mother point out in a barely civil tone that she needed her wand to perform the charm. Jude shrugged her shoulders and used her own wand to perform the charm. Then, instead of thanking her, Cassandra lost her temper and asked (rather rudely) why Jude hadn't mentioned that she already knew how to perform a summoning charm.  
  
Now on the train platform, Cassandra was fussing over Laura, and removing the awful lumps in her braids with her wand. When the satchels were transformed back into trunks, Jude barely had time to give her mother a quick peck on the cheek before the whistle sounded and she had to hurry onto the train.  
  
"Isn't this just so exciting?" Laura gushed as she rushed off to speak to several other first years that she knew from primary school.  
  
Jude was relieved that Laura's preoccupation meant she wouldn't have to force herself to feel enthusiastic. But she also felt a small twinge of jealousy as she saw her sister chatting with her friends. When Jude had first gone to Hogwarts, she had come straight from a non-magical school.  
  
While her parents were married, they had raised Jude and Laura in the non- magical world (even now, the word "Muggle" made Jude wince). They knew that their mother was a witch, but somehow, like the fact that their father was an American, it just didn't affect their lives. But once Jude's father decided he wanted a divorce and moved back to America, Cassandra turned to her old Hogwarts friends for support. When Jude's Hogwarts acceptance letter arrived two months after her father left, Cassandra was so excited, Jude didn't even think to ask if she could go to the local public school. That same fall, Cassandra put Laura into a wizard primary school.  
  
Jude settled herself into a carriage seat and opened a book she had been reading over the holidays: The Eager Wizard's Career Guide. She'd borrowed the book from the Hogwarts Library thinking that she could spend the holidays evaluating different wizarding careers, but the book had proven to be a disappointment. None of the careers mentioned in the book seemed particularly interesting. The Goblins had a stranglehold on the financial industry. Careers in business were limited: consumption was incredibly low because magic allowed wizards to create or at least indefinitely repair most consumer items.  
  
Jude thought that she might have been interested in a government career, but her mother's job had shown her that the government was largely an inept bureaucracy where perfect fools could rise to positions of power. Cassandra and the other Seers reported to some silly bureaucrat named Pratt, who did not even have the gift of Sight. Pratt routinely rewrote their predictions to lend support projects he himself favored, often completely obscuring the meaning of his staff's visions in the process.  
  
Why are some people such utter fools? Jude wondered, flipping through the pages of her book.  
  
Wishing that she could have brought her Walkman with her, Jude watched the students who passed though the compartment looking for seats. With the light reflecting off her spectacle lenses, Jude hoped that her sister and her friends would assume that she was reading and not bother her.  
  
Jude watched Laura chat animatedly with her friends. I bet her first year will be much different than mine, she thought to herself. Thank goodness for that!  
  
When Jude was only a first year, a huge snake had roamed the school, trying to kill children of non-magical parents. At the time, everyone thought that Harry Potter, a Gryffindor, was controlling the snake. Jude had been so terrified that he would find out about her father that she had threatened Mandy Carbunkle, the only child of Cassandra's friends who was Hogwarts. She told Mandy that if she mentioned anything to anyone about Jude's father, Jude would let the entire school know that Mandy's parents had to bring her to a healer - at the age of ten - to stop her bed-wetting.  
  
Mandy kept her promise and never told anyone that Jude's father was a Muggle, but Mandy also never forgave Jude for threatening her. Even after three years, Mandy still went out of her way to be rude to Jude.  
  
Well, who cares about her? Jude thought spitefully. She's an insufferably boring little goody-goody anyway!  
  
Jude noticed that Laura was looking at her oddly, so she immediately started to wonder, with unnatural intensity, which House was going to win the Quidditch Cup this year.  
  
Later, when the snack cart came through and Laura's friends were busy buying sweets, Laura leaned over to Jude and whispered: "I don't really care for Mandy Carbunkle either."  
  
Jude giggled and Laura started whispering a rambling story to Jude, the point of which seemed to be that Mandy's thoughts were just as boring as her outward personality. Laura soon got distracted by her friend Eleanor, who had just eaten a salted-herring flavored Bott's Every Flavor Bean.  
  
"Honestly," Eleanor was complaining, "it looked just like the coconut one I had on Tuesday."  
  
As the younger students ate sweets and swapped Famous Witches and Wizard cards (Jude checked, no one got the Dalai Lama - sodding ethnocentric candy companies, she thought), Jude wondered how much of her first year memories Laura had heard.  
  
Jude always wondered about the extent of Laura's gift. She knew that it was more difficult for her to "hear" people in large groups, or when they were more than just a few meters away. But Jude wondered what exactly Laura heard. Jude felt that most of the time that her own thoughts weren't all that articulate, so Laura clearly couldn't read them as she would, say, read a book. When Jude tried to ask Laura these questions, Laura just said that it was hard to explain.  
  
Well at least that is an improvement over Mum, Jude thought. When I ask about her Sight, she acts as though I've asked her what she does in the toilet.  
  
After the Famous Wizard Card trading was over, and Cornelius Fudge had been passed around countless times (who didn't have at least seven of those insipid cards - rotten Ministry propaganda!), Laura and her friends starting asking Jude questions about Hogwarts.  
  
"Were you very scared last year when that convict escaped and was lurking around the school?" Eleanor asked.  
  
Wanting to sound brave, Jude pretended that she hadn't spent the better part of last year trying to learn protection spells and answered "Not really."  
  
"I heard that he escaped again after they finally caught him. Do you reckon he'll come back?" asked a pale-faced girl named Orla.  
  
"Well," Jude said trying to act very nonchalant, "he did break into Gryffindor tower that one time. But I think that he was after Harry Potter. Or maybe it was one of those Weasley boys. Either way, I figured I am perfectly safe."  
  
"Oooo. Do you know Harry Potter? What is he like?"  
  
Jude paused a minute before answering. Having grown up outside of the magical world, Jude hadn't known anything about Harry Potter until she got to Hogwarts. When someone pointed him out to her in the Great Hall and told her the story about him and his parents, Jude hadn't thought much of it. That is, she thought it was a great story, but Harry wasn't exactly hero material. Twice Jude had seen him trip and fall over his own shoe laces, making her think that defeating You-Know-Who might have involved more than just a little luck.  
  
"He seems pretty normal to me," Jude said, but the girls looked very disappointed. "A little messy, maybe." Jude added.  
  
Orla and Eleanor seemed scandalized by this description of the Boy Who Lived. They practically shouting over each other's voices, trying to disagree with Jude.  
  
"What do you mean, normal - ?"  
  
"Isn't he the best Quidditch player at school - ?"  
  
"Hasn't he saved other students from death?"  
  
"Well, uh - I mean, yes." Being a Slytherin, Jude wasn't used to hearing people saying flattering things about Harry Potter. Of course, the Gryffindors idolized him, but she just assumed that respect was motivated largely by irrational house pride.  
  
Catching a strained look from Laura, Jude tried to defuse the situation. "I didn't mean that he hasn't done those things. I just meant that - er - he acts like a regular wizard."  
  
"That's right," Laura chimed in. "Doesn't everyone think he acts like a regular wizard. In fact, didn't Teen Witch Weekly talk about his boy-next- door charm in the "Holiday Hogwarts Hotties" issue?"  
  
The two girls had looked skeptical while Jude was talking, but Laura's comment made the two of them start nodding and Orla reach for her satchel.  
  
"Oooo you're right. I have that issue right here. Have you seen the picture of Oliver Wood? I think it had been raining just before they took the picture, because you can see his clothes sticking to him and even see the outline of his -"  
  
Before Orla could actually fish the magazine out of her bag, a prefect came into the car.  
  
"You should really change into your robes. We'll be arriving soon," she said importantly and then continued into the next car.  
  
Thank goodness, Jude thought. I am just going to pretend that the last word in Orla's sentence was going to be "chest"!  
  
The girls rummaged through their trunks and started pulling on their robes, chatting all the while about the "Hogwarts Hotties" article. The issue had been published almost nine months ago, but young witches everywhere still loved to discuss it. Orla and Eleanor eventually changed the subject (slightly) and started talking about some cute boy from their primary school who was starting Hogwarts with them.  
  
Aren't they a little young to be so obsessed with boys? Jude wondered to herself. Not that Jude hadn't noticed Draco Malfoy, another Slytherin who was a year ahead of her, when she had started at Hogwarts. But she certainly hadn't told anyone else that she thought he was good looking.  
  
The rain that had only been a drizzle when Jude woke up that morning had turned into an absolute downpour by early evening. Jude pulled her cloak out of the trunk and wished she'd packed an umbrella.  
  
Jude squeezed Laura's hand as the train slowed down. "Remember," she whispered, "all you have to do is put the hat on your head and it will make sure to put you with people that will be your friends."  
  
Jude had to leave Laura when Hagrid started calling for the first year students. She gave Laura's hand one more squeeze and hoped that she had been reassuring. Then Jude lost sight of her in the crowd.  
  
Fifteen minutes later Jude was fighting her way into the Great Hall, soaked to the skin. Having narrowly avoided the water balloons that Peeves hurled at several students, Jude considered herself lucky as she wrung her cloak out on the floor and took a seat at the Slytherin table.  
  
She saw the Weasley twins across the Hall, throwing food at one another. She couldn't understand why no one seemed to be angry with them. Their stupid toilet prank had given every student hours of additional homework, but people were still very friendly to the two practical jokers.  
  
"Incorrigible gits," Jude muttered under her breath.  
  
"Good to see you, too," said Fama Loquacis as she slid into the seat next to Jude.  
  
"Hallo, Fama. How were your holidays?" Jude asked.  
  
"Oh they were uneventful. Spent with relatives in Italy, just like last summer, and the summer before that, and so on."  
  
"Well, at least you got a nice tan out of the deal."  
  
"Thanks," Fama smiled at Jude and then leaned over to whisper: "Have you heard about the new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher? Dumbledore has brought in old Mad Eye Moody. They say he is ab-so-lute-ly barking mad!"  
  
Fama waited to see how Jude reacted to her latest news. Jude found Fama's constant chatter a little annoying sometimes, but she didn't want to antagonize her. Fama was Jude's only friend at school, and even though she was a little shallow Fama could be fun sometimes, so Jude just let her gossip.  
  
"Who?" Jude asked, giving Fama an opening to tell her all about Mad Eye Moody: his famous career as an Auror, and the latest incident with his dustbins. Jude knew all of this already, since Cassandra often related the Ministry rumors at dinner, but it made Fama happy when she was the first to spread good gossip.  
  
Before Fama had a chance to finish her litany of Moody stories, the first years entered the Great Hall and the sorting began. The second student sorted, Malcolm Baddock, ended up in Slytherin. As her table cheered, Jude could hear the awful Weasley twins hissing.  
  
Why does anyone like those asses? She thought to herself. That poor boy has only been at school for five minutes, and those nitwits are already hissing at him. He's done nothing to deserve that.  
  
The next student called was Laura's friend Eleanor Branstone. She was placed in Hufflepuff. Jude tried to catch a glimpse of Laura, but couldn't see her.  
  
Finally the hat got to the middle of the alphabet. "Madley, Laura" was announced.  
  
Laura walked up to the to the stool and sat down. The hat was silent for one moment, then another. Finally it called out "HUFFLEPUFF!"  
  
The Hufflepuff table cheered and Laura walked toward it and sat down quickly. Jude ran over to the table to congratulate her. In the background she could hear Orla being sorted into Ravenclaw.  
  
"Laura," Jude said trying to get her attention. When she finally got close enough, Jude caught her younger sister by the shoulders and gave her a hug. "Mum will be so proud," she gushed. "You have to send her an owl right away!"  
  
Laura was staring at the floor.  
  
"Laura, what's wrong?"  
  
Finally she looked up, and Jude saw that there were tears in her eyes. "Oh, Jude. I wanted to be in Slytherin with you, but the Hat told me no. It kept saying that I wasn't suited for that house. It said someone with my heart should be in Hufflepuff."  
  
"Oh, well," Jude said, her voice scratching the back of her throat, "the Hat knows that you have a very kind heart, so it thought you should be in Hufflepuff. Don't worry. You'll like it there. Remember all the stories that Mum told us about her friends? And we'll still see each other all the time. I promise."  
  
"But you have a kind heart, and you aren't in Hufflepuff. It doesn't make sense."  
  
"Look Laura," Jude said, trying to act the big sister part, "don't worry about that silly hat. You'll be happy no matter where you are. Okay? Besides, Eleanor is in Hufflepuff, too, and you two are friends."  
  
When Jude was finally convinced that Laura was going to be all right, she walked back over to the Slytherin table. I wonder if I do have a kind heart, she thought to herself, relieved that the large number of people in the room hid her thoughts from Laura.  
  
Jude remembered the feeling of the Hat's brim falling over her face as if it had just happened. If only I had been thinking about something else when I put that silly hat on my head. I wonder if things would have been different . . . .  
  
Jude ate her supper, preoccupied with that question, all the while pretending that Fama's gossip was very interesting. Luckily, Fama never expected more than a well-placed "hmm" when she was talking, so Jude was, as ususal, free to pursue her own thoughts.  
  
After the food was gone, Dumbledore stood up to speak. He was making some announcement about Quidditch, when the door burst open and the most frightening wizard Jude had ever seen came into the room.  
  
"That's Moody," Fama hissed.  
  
Jude felt as though she were staring at an auto accident. His eye, his leg. . . it was all so horrible, yet she couldn't look away. Jude didn't even listen to Dumbledore's announcement about the upcoming tournament. While everyone else in the Great Hall the other students were all buzzing about the TriWizard Tournament, but Jude was still thinking about Moody. Jude had heard stories from her mum about Moody, including the rumor about how he had a magical eye. She squinted at Moody, wondering if the crazy, rolling eye was the magical one. Or was it the one that looked normal? Suddenly both eyes focused on Jude. Jude quickly looked away.  
  
"Er - so did you meet any cute guys on holiday," Jude asked Fama.  
  
Her friend's eyes lit up. "As a matter of fact, there was this one wizard, Fabio."  
  
Jude knew how much Fama liked to talk about boys. Hoping to keep the conversation going and avoid having her eyes drawn back to Moody's horrible appearance, Jude asked a question she knew could keep Fama chatting for hours: "So tell me all about him."  
  
"Well, he ab-so-lute-ly gorgeous . . ."  
  
As Fama related the story of her first kiss with Fabio, Jude snuck a quick look at Draco Malfoy, a Slytherin Fourth Year. Although Draco wasn't necessarily the best looking wizard at Hogwarts (she could easily imagine Oliver Wood beating him in a wet t-shirt contest - and then smiled quickly at the thought), there was something about Draco that Jude found very attractive.  
  
As if he sensed her eyes on him, Draco looked up and gave Jude a smug smile.  
  
Well, whatever he has going for him, I know it isn't his personality that I like, she thought angrily.  
  
Assuming that she would be stuck listening to stories about the Fabulous Fabio for the better part of the term, Jude lagged behind Fama on the way to the Slytherin beginning of term party. Walking to the Slytherin common room, located deep in the bowels of the castle, Jude was behind two older students who were chatting in low voices. She just assumed that they were talking about the TriWizard Tournament until Goyle, a Fourth year, caught up to them and said: "So Macnair, guess your Dad had a good time at the Quidditch World Cup."  
  
"Keep your voice down," one of the older students instructed him. Jude thought she recognized him as a Seventh Year. "As if your father was sitting home playing Canasta."  
  
Jude had seen the newspaper accounts of the Deatheaters at the Quidditch World Cup. Could that be what these students were talking about?  
  
Unfortunately, Goyle seemed to have listened to Macnair's warning and had lowered his voice. Jude couldn't hear anything else they were saying. She considered trying to sneak closer to hear more of their conversation, but they were walking right behind Draco Malfoy. Jude didn't feel like having to weather another superior look from him tonight. A lot of girls looked at Draco, and she didn't want him to think that she was part of his admiring horde - whether it was true or not!  
  
By then, the group arrived at the unremarkable patch of stone wall that concealed the secret door to the Slytherin common room.  
  
"Gryffindor Sucks," the Slytherin prefect called out and the door opened.  
  
Wow, I forget what an unimaginative lot this is, Jude thought to herself. For a house full of ambitious wizards we sure are insecure!  
  
Jude walked through the common room and down the stairs to her dormitory, resigned to spending another year sleeping below ground.  
  
* * *  
  
A/N: Thank you so much to all of you who reviewed this story in its first incarnation. I have updated and rewritten portions of this story and plan to add more chapters soon. Please keep reviewing - It makes me so happy! :) 


	2. It Was Probably Green Chapter 02

Chapter 2  
The scalding water poured down her back. Jude let out a scream and tried to dodge out of the way.  
  
"Oops," came a voice from the other side of the shower curtain, "sorry I forgot to tell you that I was going to flush."  
  
"This whole place is fucking nutters," Jude muttered and tested the shower spray to see if had returned to a bearable temperature. "Magic coming out the arse, and they can't even fix the crap plumbing."  
  
Twenty minutes later, wearing last year's robes over jeans and a faded Manchester United t-shirt, Jude was sitting at the Slytherin table, trying to eat fried eggs and find her schedule at the same time.  
  
"Wow, I can't believe we have Defense Against Dark Arts first," Fama said, sitting down next to her.  
  
Jude almost choked upon hearing this news, and had to wipe a thin spray of yolk off her schedule, which she had just managed to fish out her jeans pocket. She hoped she could keep herself from staring at Mad Eye Moody the entire lesson in horror.  
  
Laura came into the Great Hall surrounded by a cluster of Hufflepuff first years. Passing by the Slytherin table, she saw Jude and hurried towards her, smiling.  
  
"Jude, I can't believe we're starting classes already."  
  
"Hmm, I wonder if you'll have that same smile this time next year," Jude teased. "So, it looks like you're fitting right in," Jude said, gesturing to the young Hufflepuffs Laura had come in with. "What did I tell you?"  
  
Laura rolled her eyes at her older sister. "Yes, you were right. Are you happy."  
  
Jude laughed.  
  
"I don't know how I'm going to make it through a whole day of classes. The whole house stayed up so late last night, welcoming all of us. It was so great. I met lots of new people."  
  
"Don't worry. Things'll quiet down and you'll get more sleep tonight."  
  
Laura gave Jude a little wave good bye and walked over to the Hufflepuff table.  
  
As Jude reached for a pitcher of steaming chocolate, the morning flight of owls came streaming into the Great Hall. Jude was surprised when an owl dropped an envelope near her plate, but not nearly as surprised as when she opened the letter and read its contents.  
Dear Ms. Madley,  
  
We have received intelligence that a Summoning Charm was used at your place of residence yesterday morning at seven minutes past ten.  
  
As you know, underage witches are not permitted to perform spells outside school, and further spell work on your part may lead to expulsion from said school (Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, Paragraph C).  
  
Notice of this violation was originally sent to your place of residence yesterday morning; however, your sudden departure has led to the rerouting of this notice to your educational residence.  
  
Enjoy your school year!  
Yours sincerely,  
  
Mafalda Hopkirk Improper Use of Magic Office Ministry of Magic  
"What on earth (" Jude started to protest, until she realized exactly what the letter was referencing. Her Mum's wand, the stupid summoning charm . . . Jude couldn't believe she was going to start the school year in trouble.  
  
Looking down at the bottom of the letter, Jude saw that a copy had been sent not only to her mother, but to Professors Snape and Dumbledore. "Oh no," she groaned, covering her face with her hands, "this is not going to be pretty."  
  
Fama looked over her shoulder and saw the letter. "Oooo, what did you do? Were you using beauty charms over the summer? I always ask my cousin to do my charms when I'm in Italy. She's twenty-one, but she still remembers how horrible it is to be young and unable to do magic over the holidays. One night, when I was going to meet Fabio, she performed this charm on my hair that made it sparkle in the moonlight."  
  
"Er, that's nice," Jude said, but was more than a little annoyed that her friend was turning Jude's problem into an opportunity to talk about her stupid boyfriend.  
  
Still talking about Fabio, Fama began gathering her things together, so Jude used a piece of toast to wipe up the last of her egg. Upset as she may have been about her friend's insensitivity, she didn't want to end up walking to class alone.  
  
* * *  
  
When Alistair Moody came clumping into the classroom, Jude was determined not to stare at him. But when he informed the class that instead of learning from their textbooks he was going to teach them curses and countercurses, Jude (like the rest of the students) couldn't help but gape.  
  
"Well, Madley, you must be thrilled about this. We know how long you've been waiting to learn some good curses," sneered Tom Schrecklich, one of the Slytherin boys, at Jude.  
  
Jude's face burned, and she slid down in her seat. Her first year, after weeks of listening to Gilderoy Lockhardt, the silly pratt who had been their Defense Against Dark Arts professor, ramble on about his exploits, Jude had raised her hand and asked if they were actually going to learn dark magic. The other students had been scandalized and had made fun of Jude for weeks. When the professor pointed out that practicing dark magic was illegal, Jude had wanted to explain that she didn't know that there were laws against dark magic, but she didn't want anyone to know about her non-magical childhood. Instead she just let them laugh.  
  
Luckily, the professor didn't seem to think anything of her question. That Lockhart fool didn't seem to think much at all, Jude recalled. All the same, she didn't want that whole mess dragged up again.  
  
"What's that you said, Schrecklich?" Moody's voice boomed out from the front of the room.  
  
Tom, clearly afraid of getting in trouble, tried to shift attention away from himself by telling Moody about Jude's old question to Lockhart. The whole class turned to stare at Jude.  
  
Moody fixed both of his wild eyes on Jude and said, "So girl, you want to learn dark magic, do you?"  
  
"N-no," Jude stammered, feeling her stomach falling somewhere around her knees. "I just though that - uh, well, if we are supposed to learn how defend ourselves against dark magic, it might help to, um, know more about it."  
  
Moody looked at Jude very closely and then said: "Exactly!"  
  
The students, including Jude, looked stunned.  
  
"Do you think that a dark wizard is going to tell you before he puts a curse on you and then give you time to run to the library and look up a countercurse?" Moody asked while pacing rather wildly in front of the class. "Of course not! You have to learn the countercurses now, and then be CONSTANTLY VIGILANT."  
  
When Moody showed them the three forbidden curses on a bunch of spiders, Jude was shocked. No one had ever told her that you could kill someone with one spell. She wondered about this while Moody lectured on the curses for the rest of the lesson.  
  
Obviously Jude knew that You-Know-Who had killed people, and she assumed he had used magic, but she never thought about how simple it was. To think how excited the papers get about some bloke having a gun, she thought, not only can you kill someone with a wand, but you could make them do anything you want with that Imperio curse.  
  
When class was over, Moody asked Jude to stay behind. "What's your name, girl?" he asked once the other students had left the room.  
  
"Ah, Madley. Jude Madley."  
  
"So Schrecklich gave you lip for asking about the dark arts did he?"  
  
"Er. . ."  
  
"Wonder if he ever asked his father about his own dark arts education?" Moody asked, presumably rhetorically. "Well Miss Madley, since you seem to be more eager than the rest of the students, I have a book that you might be interested in."  
  
Moody reached into a desk drawer and pulled out a musty book. The faded silver lettering on the cover spelled out the words: Historie of Dark Magick.  
  
"Um, thank you. Thank you very much!" Jude said.  
  
Jude walked out the door feeling happier than she had in years. Even though she had received reasonably good marks in Defense Against Dark Arts (a class where her silly wand hadn't given her any trouble), she rarely spoke in this class or any other. Between the way her classmates had reacted when she asked that question and her fear of someone discovering that her father was a Muggle, Jude had kept mainly to herself her first year. She hadn't really made many friends, and she felt like a real outsider, even with students in her own house.  
  
To have Moody say that her ill-fated comment two years ago was correct made Jude feel unbelievably vindicated. Now a teacher was taking an interest in her . maybe her luck was changing.  
  
Unfortunately, her good mood didn't last for long. A prefect was waiting outside of the classroom for her. The prefect had a note, telling Jude that Professor Snape was waiting for her in the Potions classroom.  
  
When she arrived in the dank dungeon that served as the Potions classroom, Jude's stomach was heaving ( in part from nerves and in part from a terrible smell. Professor Snape sat behind his desk, a smoking cauldron in front of him from which the horrible smell seemed to be emanating.  
  
"Miss Madley," Snape began, fixing Jude with a disapproving stare, "I received a notice from the Ministry of Magic this morning, informing me of you breach of the laws against the underage use of magic. While normally such a violation would be addressed solely to a student's parents, since you returned to school shortly after the violation, it seems that I have been notified as well."  
  
Snape paused, as if waiting for an answer.  
  
"Er . . . okay," was all Jude could manage, as she was trying to breathe through her mouth to minimize the smell coming from the cauldron.  
  
"Well," Snape continued, "before I decide upon your punishment, is there anything you have to say?"  
  
"Punishment?!" Jude exclaimed. "I shouldn't be punished. We were running late, and I had to help my Mum ("  
  
"Your mother was aware that you were performing magic on the summer holidays?" Snape interrupted sharply.  
  
With a terrible sinking feeling, Jude realized that to provide an excuse for using magic could get her mother in serious trouble. She made one last attempt to avoid punishment: "No, I was, umm, I was just trying to help out."  
  
"I see," Snape said, looking less alarmed. "Well, although your intentions may have been good, the laws against the underage use of magic are very explicit. You may not use magic outside of school for any purpose at all. Is that clear."  
  
"Fine," Jude said, but sounded petulant even in her own ears.  
  
"In order for you to appreciate the magnitude of your transgression, I expect an essay on the laws against the underage use of magic. It must be at least eighteen inches long, and I want it completed by the end of this week."  
  
"Yes, professor," Jude said, realizing that the project would take hours.  
  
"Very well then," Professor Snape said, pouring some of the foul-smelling liquid from the cauldron into a beaker. "I am happy that we were able to settle this without deducting any points from Slytherin House. And I hope that I will not see you in here again on a discipline related matter."  
  
Jude muttered her assent and rushed out of the classroom, before the smell from the cauldron made her get sick all over the floor.  
  
Jude took a moment to collect herself in the hallway. The sense of nausea faded as soon as she left the smell behind her, but she was still upset by her meeting with Professor Snape.  
  
* * *  
  
Strange, Severus thought to himself, I never realized how much she looks like her mother.  
  
Shaking his head, as if to erase his suddenly clear vision of Cassandra smiling directly at him from across the room, Severus Snape turned his attention to the cauldron on his desk. No sense in acting nostalgic after all these years . . .  
  
* * *  
  
Although she didn't really feel like eating, Jude thought that some tea might settle her stomach, so she headed to the Great Hall. Jude sat down next to Fama and pulled the enormous two-handled teapot towards her. Using both hands to pour herself a cup of tea, she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around.  
  
One of the Slytherin Fourth Years, Jude knew her name was Pansy, was standing behind her with a smirk on her face.  
  
"Dear me," she said, "I didn't know that that they let Mudbloods into Slytherin?"  
  
Panicked, Jude checked her robe. Was her t-shirt showing? How did this girl find out about her? Everyone at the Slytherin table stopped eating to stare at Jude.  
  
"It seems that this Mudblood must have sneaked in by mistake. Her father is a Muggle," Pansy proclaimed to the entire House.  
  
Jude had, as usual, noticed Draco before sitting down at the table for a meal. He was sitting just a few seats away from her, and the thought that he was listening to this horrible girl say nasty things about her made Jude hopping mad.  
  
"Why don't you sod off," Jude said, imagining a slow, agonizing death for Mandy Carbunkle, "Besides, someone who has only one Muggle parent is a half- breed, not a Mudblood. Really, you should read up on your disparaging terms."  
  
Pansy didn't seem impressed by Jude's cutting remark. She just glared at her and said: "Half-breeds aren't welcome here either. Look around. None of the other Slytherins are half-bloods. I didn't even know that the Sorting Hat could let one in."  
  
Jude was furious. Why would this girl try to humiliate Jude in front of the whole school? Pansy was pretty, and her family had wads of money. Jude couldn't think of a single disparaging retort.  
  
Then suddenly Jude remembered some of the office gossip that her mother had related at dinner one night. Apparently, Mr. Parkinson recently had to file some paperwork related to his claim that he had been under the Imperio curse at the time he was a follower of Voldemort. "Really. So you can't think of a single Slytherin who had a non-magical parent?" Jude asked Pansy, hoping the girl would back down, but Pansy just smirked at her. "Well. . . WHAT ABOUT YOUR DAD'S OLD BOSS!" Jude shouted.  
  
Jude barely noticed the scandalized looks on the other student's faces. She just grabbed her books and pushing her way past Pansy, stormed out of the Great Hall.  
  
* * *  
  
Jude spent the lunch break in the library reading the book that Moody had given her. She didn't want to go to her next class, but she knew she couldn't skip the first day.  
  
They'll forget about this, just like they forgot about my question about dark magic, Jude thought to herself. I just hope that it doesn't take as long. Students in her class had teased Jude for weeks after her question in Defense Against Dark Arts - an experience she wasn't eager to repeat.  
  
She looked through the book, wishing she had known some of these curses when that pretentious fourth year had been humiliating her. I could have hit her with a forgetfulness spell, she thought to herself. If she couldn't remember that her family was worth more money than God, maybe she would forget to be such an arrogant bitch. Jude looked down at her own crumpled robes. Someone with her sort of money probably thinks someone like me is a total pushover.  
  
"Jude," someone whispered.  
  
Jude looked up and saw Laura looking at her.  
  
"What's wrong with your robes?" Laura asked, clearly having "heard" the tail end of Jude's thoughts.  
  
"Er, ah nothing. I mean they could probably do with a good press," Jude tried to act light-hearted.  
  
"I heard a rumor that you got into an argument with some girl in your house. She was making fun of you about Dad."  
  
"Yeah, well it's no big thing. Mandy Carbunkle must have told people that Dad is, you know, not magical."  
  
"Mandy Carbunkle?" Laura looked confused. "I told people last night when we were all swapping stories. They must have mentioned it to someone in your house."  
  
"You said what! Laura, why would you tell them that? Don't you know how people around here feel about non-magical people?"  
  
Laura narrowed her eyes. "Jude, I can't believe that you didn't want anyone to know. I heard that some people in Slytherin were prejudiced against Muggles, but, honestly, I thought that you would know better."  
  
Laura gave Jude a disappointed look, but Jude was unwilling to make peace.  
  
"Well, at least you could have asked me if I minded ("  
  
"Minded what?" Laura shot back. "If you minded me dispelling a lie that you have been telling everyone for two years. I never thought that you would lie about this, so why would I ask?"  
  
Laura gave Jude another disapproving look and stormed out of the library.  
  
Gol', Jude thought, this day has been getting worse and worse. They say that when things look especially bad there is nowhere to go but up, but that's not true. There's always more down.  
  
Jude dragged herself out of the library and up to the tower for her first Divination lesson. After climbing through the trap door, Jude settled herself at a table with Fama at the back of the classroom, hoping not to attract any attention.  
  
Of course, that didn't work.  
  
Ten minutes into the class, after Professor Trelawney had paired the students up to read tealeaves, she appeared suddenly behind Jude's chair.  
  
"Miss Madley, isn't it?" she asked in her unnaturally quiet voice.  
  
"Er, I mean yes."  
  
"The gift of Sight is strong in your family. Tell us what you see."  
  
For the third time that day all eyes were focused on Jude. She felt herself beginning to perspire. A little teasing in class, even open hostility at lunch had been bad enough, but Jude certainly didn't want to reveal to her classmates that unlike her mother or sister Jude didn't possess any special gifts.  
  
Trying to think what her vivacious friend's future would likely hold, Jude began her bluff: "She will live in a warm land, have many friends, a loving family, and a truly happy life."  
  
Without even glancing at the leaves in Fama's cup Professor Trelawney gave Jude a knowing smile and said: "But of course."  
  
When she turned to the next group of students, Jude heard the Professor say, "Such a gift. Just like her mother."  
  
Oh no, Jude thought to herself. How am I going to keep up this charade for the entire year?  
  
Luckily Professor Trelawney spent the rest of the lesson helping other students, so Jude was able to flip through her textbook, trying to learn all she could about tealeaves.  
  
Fama was very impressed with Professor Trelawney's deference towards Jude. Even after the lesson was over, she kept asking Jude what else she could see in her future. Would she marry Fabio? Would they live in Italy?  
  
"I'm, ah, not sure, Fama. Tealeaves aren't the most accurate predictors. Maybe later in the term we'll do some palm reading and I'll be able to see more."  
  
"Oh, wonderful!" Fama gushed. "You'll tell me all about my future won't you?"  
  
"I'll certainly do my best," Jude said, telling herself that it wasn't technically a lie.  
  
Jude thought about skipping dinner, but since she hadn't eaten anything since her hurried breakfast, her stomach wouldn't let her hide out in the dormitory with the book from Professor Moody. I just hope that no one says anything else about Dad, Jude hoped silently.  
  
By the time Jude and Fama sat down at the Slytherin table for dinner, it was clear that no one remembered Jude's outburst at lunch. Everyone in the school was buzzing about Draco Malfoy's unfortunate incident with Professor Moody.  
  
A ferret. How terrible! Jude thought.  
  
Jude looked around for Draco, but he wasn't at the dinner table. Someone mentioned that he had been hauled off to see Professor Snape. Apparently, in addition to being transfigured into a rodent and bounced around in front of the school, Draco was also going to receive detention.  
  
Jude felt sorry for him. Unlikely as it seemed, Draco Malfoy appeared to be having a worse day than she. Well at least everyone has forgotten about my father, she thought and reached across the table for a heaping platter of roast turkey and vegetables.  
  
* * *  
  
Jude sat bolt upright in bed. She'd had another one of those dreams again. This one wasn't as bad as the others. There were no dead bodies or people in hooded cloaks. It had started out pleasantly enough: She had been standing in front of a large mirror, wearing the most beautiful robes and jewels she'd ever seen. Her hair, instead of pulled back in a band, was piled on top of her head and hung down in curls by the sides of her face. Her spectacles were gone and her face looked different - a little older, definitely more beautiful. It was only when she had reached up to touch her beautiful hair that the dream turned bad. She saw a black mark on her arm. It was just like the mark that had been in the paper after the Quidditch World Cup. It was Voldemort's sign. Why was it on her arm?  
  
Two dreams in less than a week. This is getting scary, she thought. Maybe I'd better owl Mum and ask her how to interpret dreams. I can always tell her it's for Divination class.  
  
* * *  
  
Having been wakened by her dream in the early hours of the morning and unable to fall back asleep for some time, Jude awoke to the even more hateful than usual noise of the disembodied gong that sounded every morning. Her first year, Jude had wanted her mum to send her clock-radio to school so that she could listen to some music to wake up in the morning, but her mother had explained that non-magical appliances didn't work at the school.  
  
Crap school, Jude thought as she got out of bed - not an unusual thought for her in the morning.  
  
At breakfast, the older students were still sniggering at Draco, who was quietly picking at his food. He seemed to be ignoring all of the jokes that the older students were making at his expense, but Jude was quite certain that he heard each one.  
  
All this house loyalty nonsense is a sham, Jude seethed, we're just as quick to turn on each other so long as there is no one else to see. She tried to catch Draco's eye, but he never looked up from his plate.  
  
Jude's foul mood lasted until the beginning of Transfiguration. After collecting the summer essays, McGonnagall put the class to work, transfiguring scarab beetles into pillboxes.  
  
Jude pulled her new wand from beneath her robes, barely resisting the urge to run the fragrant wood under her nose. The thrill of holding her new wand reminded her of the day she had bought it.  
  
Standing in the shop in Diagon Alley, Jude had felt a wonderful rush as she picked up a slender cedar wand. It was the first wand that the old shopkeeper had taken from his shelves. She had admired the smooth and fragrant wand as soon as she had seen it in its box. Jude had been so happy to see the bright shower of sparks burst from the tip, she almost missed the shopkeeper's odd look.  
  
"Well, Miss Madley," he said, "I'm glad to see that this wand finally has an owner. It has been waiting for you on this shelf for two years."  
  
Jude had flushed when she realized that the shopkeeper knew her name without her telling him. She hadn't given her name when she entered the shop because she didn't want him to know that she was shopping for a wand two years later than almost every other Hogwarts student. In fact, Jude had waited until dinnertime, hoping to avoid the steady stream of first years and their parents parading through the shop to purchase their first wand. Still, the wizened old man seemed to know everything about Jude.  
  
Sitting in class, Jude thought Even the humiliation of having the old shopkeeper know my family couldn't afford to send me to school with a new wand doesn't matter now. After all this time - "Finally, I have my own wand."  
  
"That must be nice," a voice next to her whispered.  
  
Realizing that the last bit of her inner dialogue had actually been spoken aloud, Jude turned to see a freckled face smiling at her. It was Ginny Weasley, the younger sister of the trouble-making twins who had created so much homework for the entire school.  
  
"Er - yes, it is," Jude admitted. Feeling a sudden rush of honesty, she continued "My old wand wasn't - um - bought for me, and it didn't work very well."  
  
"Oh, I know what you mean," Ginny said, "I had one of my brother's old wands until last summer. They work so much better when you pick them out in the shop."  
  
Jude looked at the girl. She had heard some of the students in her house make snide comments about the Weasley family's near poverty. While it was nice of the girl to be friendly, Jude thought it odd that Ginny was being so open about having to use a hand-me-down wand. It certainly wasn't the sort of information that Jude would normally share with someone else.  
  
"Go ahead," Ginny whispered, "give it a try and see how much easier it is."  
  
Jude hesitated for less than a moment before passing her wand over the beetle and saying the incantation: "Locularis!"  
  
The beetle stopped moving. Leaning down, Jude could see the hinges on one side - she had done it! The beetle had been transformed from an insect into a tiny black pillbox. It usually took her more than one attempt to work a spell properly, especially on the first time. Jude turned to Ginny and smiled.  
  
"Wow - that was great!"  
  
Ginny grinned at her, "Sure makes a difference, doesn't it?"  
  
* * *  
  
That evening in the library Jude marveled at the fact that Ginny had been so friendly towards her. Not that students from different houses weren't ever friendly towards each other, but Slytherin and Gryffindor students were notoriously antagonistic. And Ginny Weasley wasn't a particularly outgoing person - at least, not that Jude had ever seen.  
  
Pausing over her volume of "Wizarding Regulations - A History," Jude realized that all she knew about Ginny Weasley was that she had almost killed all of the non-magical born students at Hogwarts during her first year.  
  
Two years ago, Ginny had somehow opened the Chamber of Secrets, loosening a giant Basilisk on the school, which had hunted down students whose parents weren't magical. Exactly how Ginny had opened the Chamber had never really been explained. The little official explanation that had been given was simply that Ginny had been enchanted by a powerful dark wizard, and she wasn't responsible for opening the Chamber. But darker rumors about what did while she was enchanted and whether she had actually been enchanted had flourished for quite some time at the school.  
  
Jude remembered one rumor that Ginny had been enchanted to act as a love slave to any Seventh year student who was willing to drink the blood of a chicken. She had never really believed that rumor, but chicken blood and feathers had been found around the school during the time that the Chamber was opened, so she, like a lot of other students, had kept her distance from Ginny Weasley.  
  
In fact, as Jude thought about it, she couldn't recall ever having seen Ginny spend much time with anyone. Sometimes she would hang about with her older brother Ron and his friends, and anyone could see that Ginny was mad about Harry Potter, but Jude didn't think that Ginny was really part of their close group.  
  
Turning back to the volume in front of her, Jude read the short passage describing the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery:  
  
Passed in 1875, the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery placed Britain among the ranks of several European countries restricting the use of magic by minors. The Decree allowed the use of magic only during the academic year, which was defined in the famed prosecution of Malefacio Malfoy to include the immediate travel necessary to and from school.  
  
Flipping pages in the book before her, Jude was dismayed to find that the short passage was the only reference to the restrictions on underage magic. Oh bother! Jude thought with no small amount of annoyance This will barely fill two inches of parchment. How am I ever going to finish Snape's rotten essay.  
  
Looking at the passage again, Jude decided to look for books discussing similar restrictions in other countries. And if that isn't enough to finish the ruddy assignment, I can look for more information about this case. Jude looked at the name again, Hmm . . . a Malfoy.  
  
Hours later Jude had gathered enough information to fill the required length of parchment. The essay was actually an inch and a half longer than required. Jude had found a series of books comparing magical laws in different jurisdictions, and was able to describe in detail the different restrictions on underage wizardry in different countries. At the end of her essay, she noted that England's restrictions on the underage use of magic were some of the most severe (aside from Sweden, where they seemed to regulate everything!). While she did not explicitly try to justify her use of magic before the beginning of the school year, Jude did point out that England had prosecuted students who performed magic just outside of the barrier to the Hogwarts Express, while allowing magic on the platform - she hoped that Professor Snape would see that the Ministry's enforcement of the laws against underage magic, though consistently applied, drew rather arbitrary distinctions.  
  
Jude yawned and looked around her. The library was nearly deserted. One Gryffindor fourth year, Hermione Granger, occupied a table in the corner, surrounded by textbooks. Two Ravenclaws were whispering as they gathered up their things, and Madame Pince was casting impatient looks at all of the remaining students. Jude rolled up her essay for Professor Snape and stuck it inside of her satchel. Rubbing her neck, which was sore from all of the time she had spent hunched over her books, Jude wondered How do those Ravenclaws do this every night?  
  
Stifling another yawn, Jude left the library, wanting nothing more than a good night's rest.  
  
* * *  
  
A/N: I promise another chapter soon - thank you so much to all reviewers. Please keep the reviews coming!! 


	3. It Was Probably Green Chapter 03

Chapter 3  
  
Millicent Bulstrude was walking around naked again.  
  
Jude was standing at the washbasin in the Slytherin girl's washroom, brushing her teeth and trying to avert her eyes from the hideous sight reflected in the mirror in front of her.  
  
Unlike Jude, who wrapped herself modestly in two large bath towels when entering and leaving the shower, Millicent felt no compunction strutting around without a stitch of clothing and covering herself only when she walked out onto the landing to access her dormitory.  
  
Rinsing her mouth quickly, Jude muttered "I'm going to sleep" to Fama who was concentrating so intently on the beauty charm she was trying to work that she seemed oblivious to the hairy (ugh! very hairy) figure plodding past the washbasins to the showers.  
  
"Do my eyelashes look longer?" Fama asked Jude's retreating figure.  
  
"Huh, I mean, yes," Jude answered over her shoulder.  
  
While Jude had been stuck in the library working on her essay for Professor Snape, Fama and some of the other girls had been swapping gossip and cosmetic charms. At least I didn't miss anything interesting, Jude thought as she walked down the stairs to the room she shared with the other third year girls.  
  
Jude pulled the curtains around her bed. The argument she had with Laura earlier that day kept nagging at her. While she was still upset at Laura for talking to people about their father, Jude felt guilty for snapping at her younger sister.  
  
She didn't know how people here feel, Jude told herself. But even if she didn't know that people would hate us for what our father was, she should have realized why I am upset.  
  
Jude wondered how the other students in Laura's house reacted when she told them about her father. Maybe they weren't mean to her. Maybe that's why she didn't understand why I wanted to keep it secret. Jude could only imagine how the other Slytherins would have reacted had she told them about her father. Pansy Parkinson's behavior in the Great Hall left her no doubt that their reactions would not have been positive. Yet it didn't seem that the Hufflepuffs had even cared when Laura told them that she didn't have two magical parents.  
  
If only I had been thinking about something else when I put that silly hat on my head.  
  
That day two years ago was still fresh in Jude's mind. On the train from Kings Cross Station, Jude had been nervous. She hadn't known any of the other students sitting in her compartment and had pretended to read a book while the rest of the students had chatted easily.  
  
When standing in line before the Sorting, Jude heard the two girls behind her whispering to each other about Jude's bedraggled looking robes. Her mum had bought them second hand, and although the robes fit, the hem was frayed and the color had begun to wash out of them. Jude had been embarrassed to see the other students wearing brand new robes and stowing new trunks, but when she heard the girls whispering, Jude's face began to burn. Those girls think they're better than me, she had realized.  
  
"Madley, Judith" rang out loudly in the hall, but Jude could hear the girls sniggering.  
  
Hmmm . . . I'm not really sure where to put you, the disembodied voice of the Hat echoed in Jude's head. What do you think would make you happy?  
  
"I'll be happy when those silly twits stop thinking that they are better than me," Jude raged at the Hat. "Just because I don't have new robes doesn't mean anything. I'll show them."  
  
Ahh, the voice had said, that makes it easy -- "SLYTHERIN!"  
  
* * *  
  
The next morning, Jude had her first Ancient Runes class.  
  
Walking to class by herself after breakfast, Jude started to wonder whether her elective choice had been such a good idea. Fama wasn't taking Ancient Runes because she had signed up for Muggle Studies. Jude and Fama had always taken all of their classes together, and even though they didn't always sit next to each other, Jude was worried about being in a class all on her own. What if the professor asks us to work in pairs? she worried. I don't want to be the pillock stuck by myself.  
  
She sat down in the back of the classroom, opening her textbook so that she didn't have to look at all of the students trickling into the classroom in pairs of two or three. It seemed like no one else had chosen to take an elective without their friends.  
  
The truth was, had Fama chosen any elective other than Muggle Studies, Jude would have signed up for the same class. But Jude just could not stomach the thought of spending the next few years learning about televisions and the Underground, all the while trying to pretend that such things were completely foreign to her.  
  
"Oh hi," a voice said. Jude looked up to see Ginny Weasley, the girl from her Transfigurations class, standing in front of her. "Is anyone sitting here?" she asked, gesturing to the desk next to Jude.  
  
"Uh, no. No one," Jude said. Ginny smiled at Jude at slid into the seat.  
  
As the professor walked into the room, Jude realized that she was no longer nervous.  
  
Ancient Runes proved to be a very interesting class. Runes served not only as an alphabet for a writing system, but the symbols themselves carried meanings. Professor Chomsky explained that many ancient civilizations used runes as a means of obtaining answers from a "Higher Source."  
  
Professor Chomsky spent the first lesson showing the class several runes. He would use his wand to draw the rune in front of him for the class. Then, while the rune sparkled in the air, he told the name of the rune, as well as its phonetic quality, and its meaning.  
  
Jude scribbled down everything that the Professor said, trying her best to copy the shimmering shapes onto her parchment.  
  
At the end of class, Professor Chomsky told the students to find the rune that most resembled the first letter of their names and to research the history and meaning of that rune.  
  
That's not a bad first assignment, Jude thought as she started gathering her books.  
  
"So do you think that we'll end up with the same rune?"  
  
Jude turned to Ginny Weasley. "Ah, well, our names don't start with the same letter," Jude said slowly.  
  
"I know that," Ginny said, smiling, "but our names do start with the same sound. The assignment is to find the rune that is similar to the first letter of your name. So, it might be the same rune for us."  
  
"Oh, right," Jude said.  
  
Ginny looked like she was expecting Jude to say something else. She looked away, and said in a low voice, "I should go."  
  
"Er -- wait," Jude said, feeling stupid. "Do you want to, um, do this assignment together? We could meet in the library later this week."  
  
Ginny looked back at Jude and smiled. "That would be great!"  
  
* * *  
  
The next few days passed quickly.  
  
Jude was enjoying most of her classes -- even Transfigurations and Charms. She had always dreaded those classes in her first two years, but now, with her new wand, Jude was no longer one of the slowest students. In one lesson, she had even been the first student to successfully perform a charm.  
  
All of her recent successes were giving Jude self-confidence she had never felt, making her think that she could excel in any class -- until the next Defense Against Dark Arts class.  
  
When Moody told the class that he would be performing the Imperius Curse on each of them, many of the students in the class looked nervous. He explained that although it was a powerful spell, it was possible to fight the effects of the spell and retain control.  
  
Emboldened by her recent successes, Jude felt a surge of confidence. I can do this Jude told herself, as the first few students tried to throw off the curse and failed. I can definitely do this.  
  
But when Jude's turn came, she was surprised by the contented floating sensation she felt. Moody told her to hop on one foot and she happily complied. Once the curse was removed, Jude sank down in her seat, angry with herself that she wasn't able to resist. That anger soon turned to despair, as Jude's subsequent attempts to throw off the curse were entirely unsuccessful. All of the other students were able to make some sort of progress, but Jude never even hesitated before following Moody's commands.  
  
Jude's self-loathing did not escape Professor Moody, who asked her to stay behind at the end of class.  
  
"Having a little trouble, Miss Madley?" he asked, fixing both of his terrible eyes on her.  
  
Jude felt a prickling sensation on the bridge of her nose. Oh no, she thought, please don't let me start blubbering -- not in front of a teacher.  
  
"It's a difficult spell --" Moody said in a voice that wasn't unkind.  
  
"Well no one else seemed to think it was that difficult," Jude said. "Even Susan Albern, who had failing marks last year managed to stop singing 'God Save the Queen' after four tries."  
  
"Yeah, well it was about bleeding time! That girl must be completely tone deaf."  
  
Jude had never heard a professor swear before. She was surprised and found herself grinning.  
  
"Besides, she kept humming the tune -- well, almost the tune. It's not as though she actually defeated the curse."  
  
"But I couldn't fight it at all," Jude said in a flash of truthfulness. "I don't want Susan Albern to think that she is better than me -- I don't want anyone to think that they are better than me!"  
  
Suddenly regretting her outburst, Jude looked down at the dirty trainers poking out from beneath the hem of her robes. She could feel Moody's eyes staring directly at her, as if they could see right into the blackest part of her mind -- the part where she worried that she was just as shabby as her clothes and her mother's flat.  
  
"Don't you give a worry to those silly arseholes," Moody said gruffly. "If you want something badly enough, you can overcome anything or anyone who is in your way." Moody paused for a moment, and then said: "And don't worry about today's class. If you want, I'll give you an extra assignment -- some research for me -- and you'll get full marks for today's lessons."  
  
"Um, thank you," Jude said. I hope he isn't doing this because he feels sorry for me, she thought.  
  
Moody scribbled on two pieces of parchment and handed them to Jude. "Here's what I need you to find. You'll need to give this note to that old battle-axe in the library to get the book you'll need. Once you've read the book and can tell me everything that is needed to perform that task, you let me know. It won't be easy, but you're clever. You'll figure it out."  
  
"OK," Jude said, able to look Moody in the eye once again.  
  
* * *  
  
Jude rushed to the library as soon as she finished dinner. She wanted to find the book for Moody before meeting Ginny Weasley for the Ancient Runes assignment.  
  
Madam Pince gave her a very harsh look when Jude handed her the pass from Moody authorizing her to take Enchanting Travel: Broomsticks, Floo Powder and Portkeys out of the restricted section.  
  
"Why do you need this book?" she demanded of Jude. "The creation of magical travel instruments is highly regulated. You cannot charm a broomstick for flight unless you are certified by the Ministry of Magic. All Portkeys have to be registered with the Department of Magical Travel. And do you know what can happen if the wrong combination of Floo powder ingredients is exposed to fire?"  
  
"It's for an assignment," Jude insisted, but secretly wondered what horrible stories Madam Pince could tell her about Floo powder.  
  
Madam Pince stormed over to the restricted section to retrieve the book, muttering to herself all the while. Jude heard the words "irresponsible" "half-mad" and "bloody Aurors" and was happy to retreat to a far corner of the library with Enchanting Travel.  
  
How are Portkeys made? List every necessary step. had been scrawled on the note that Moody had handed to her. Jude flipped through the book, noticing that the section on Portkeys was more than sixty pages long and contained words that Jude didn't even recognize. Well, he must really think I'm clever if he believes I can figure this out, Jude thought. I hope I don't prove him wrong.  
  
"Hey Jude," Ginny said slipping into the seat across from her, "you don't look very happy."  
  
"Oh, I was just looking at another assignment. It looks like it may take a long time to complete."  
  
"Oh. Well, do you want to work on Ancient Runes some other time?"  
  
"No, not at all," Jude said quickly, slipping the book for Moody into her satchel. "Besides, it will be so much easier with the two of us working together."  
  
Jude thought she saw Ginny's face turned a light shade of pink, and she quickly pulled out her Ancient Runes textbook. "Well, I did a little work this afternoon, and I think that we actually have to look at different runes. You should look at jera, which is also called ger. I need to research gebo."  
  
The two girls pulled out their textbooks, and soon became engrossed in the assignment.  
  
"Look, my rune means 'gift' or 'partnership.' What about yours?"  
  
Jude flipped to the table that Ginny had shown her. "It says here 'harvest' or 'fertility. I wonder what that means.'"  
  
"Oooo. Maybe you'll have loads of babies, then." Ginny said.  
  
"So which of your parents' names begins with a J?" Jude teased back.  
  
Ginny blushed again, but was giggling right along with Jude. The two girls barely noticed when an older student walked over to the table.  
  
"Ginny," the girl scolded, "you don't seem to be studying very hard."  
  
"Hallo, Hermione," Ginny said. "Actually, we are studying."  
  
The older student still looked unconvinced. "Well, since you seem to be taking a break, I want to talk to you about joining an organization for elvish welfare. The organization is called S.P.E.W. The Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare."  
  
"That's a rather unfortunate acronym," Jude pointed out.  
  
"Ginny," Hermione said turning her back on Jude rather decidedly, "who is your friend? I don't know her."  
  
"My name's Jude. Ginny and I have Ancient Runes together."  
  
"Oh, that's a wonderful class," Hermione said, looking as though she was willing to forgive Jude's comment about S.P.E.W. because she was taking a difficult class. "I sat next to Padma Patil. Do you know her?"  
  
"No. Which house is she in?"  
  
"Ravenclaw," Hermione answered, with an almost quizzical look on her face. "Are you in Hufflepuff?"  
  
"I'm in Slytherin."  
  
As soon as the words left Jude's mouth, she saw the expression on the older girl's face change. Hermione's eyes flickered to Ginny, and Jude could almost hear the unspoken question: Why would a nice Gryffindor girl like Ginny be studying with a slimy Slytherin?  
  
Hermione must have said something before walking away from the two younger girls, but Jude couldn't hear past the roaring sound in her ears.  
  
All of the things Jude wanted to yell at Hermione's retreating back were jumbled in her head: Fucking Gryffindor holier-than-thou -- pigging House bullshit -- blinkered generalizing fanny --  
  
"Jude?"  
  
Slowly the red hair and freckled face of Ginny Weasley came into focus. Jude wondered how many times Ginny had called her name.  
  
"Are you feeling well?"  
  
"Uh -- sure. Just thinking about something else."  
  
They stayed in the library for another hour, working on the Runes assignment, but Jude was no longer enjoying herself. She and Ginny barely spoke, and when they were leaving the library, Jude barely nodded in response to Ginny's question of whether she wanted to meet next week to do the next assignment together.  
  
Walking down the stairs to her dormitory, Jude wondered why Ginny wanted to work with her. There were other Gryffindor students in the class, but Ginny hadn't sat with them. Of course, Jude wasn't sitting with the other Slytherin students, but aside from Fama, Jude wasn't friendly with any of the students in her house.  
  
I wonder if Ginny feels the same way. For some reason, the thought that Ginny could feel as lonely and out of place as Jude made her angry.  
  
Jude never had understood the House system. Hogwarts had so few students in each year that it seemed silly to create a system that kept them isolated. There were only four Slytherin girls in the same year as Jude, and only thrity-four third year students in the entire school. Yet, those students were split between the four Houses and rarely formed friendships outside of those boundaries. Stupid magical rubbish, Jude thought angrily as she tried to fall asleep.  
  
* * *  
  
I wonder where Draco Malfoy goes on holiday? Probably some posh hotel with his parents. I can't really imagine him at the beach; his skin is so pale that he would get a horrible burn. Though, if I concentrate hard enough, I'll bet I can imagine him in swimming trunks, short ones with little golden snitches --  
  
"Doesn't anyone know the fourth property of newt's eyes?" Professor Snape demanded, ruining Jude's reverie.  
  
Jude glanced around the room before raising her hand. Snape looked startled to see her volunteer.  
  
"Yes, Miss Madley."  
  
"If you eat them uncooked, don't they cause hallucinations?" Jude offered.  
  
"Yes. Yes indeed." Snape looked at Jude a moment before continuing.  
  
Snape gave the class several additional instructions before allowing them to begin the sleeping potion for that day's lesson. The students all began chopping their ingredients and talking to one another in low voices.  
  
Jude blew on her hands, trying to warm up her fingers. Why does Snape keep us in this awful dungeon? No matter how warm it is outside, it's always bleeding freezing down here.  
  
As if hearing her mental query, Professor Snape appeared at Jude's table. Rather than asking her questions, the professor just stood there for a few moments watching her progress. Jude tried to act nonchalant and proceeded to add the newt's eyes to the water boiling in her cauldron. After a few minutes, he walked away from her table to criticize some students whose cauldron had begun to emit yellow smoke.  
  
Jude realized that she must have caught Snape's attention by answering a question in class. She had kept very quiet in his class since the beginning of the term. Aside from when she handed in her essay on the underage use of magic she had not spoken to Professor Snape since that terrible first day.  
  
Since classes had begun three weeks before, Professors Moody and Trelawney had been calling on her often. When she grew accustomed to speaking in class, Jude had begun to speak up with some regularity in all of her classes. She didn't sit around with her hand constantly waiving in the air; after all, she reasoned to herself, I'm not a bleeding Ravenclaw know-it- all. Jude would only raise her hand when no one else seemed to know the answer.  
  
Can't believe it's taken this long for Snape to stump everyone. Guess that's just one of the many disadvantages to having Potions with the Ravenclaws.  
  
Jude couldn't believe the amount of time that the Ravenclaw students spent in the library studying. They would pour over their books, taking copious notes and quizzing each other before each class. Jude knew that her marks would never put her at the top of her class, so she had never spent very much time studying. Still, she had spent more time in the library this year, than any of her previous years at school.  
  
Even though she was spending a lot of time in the library, Jude wasn't actually studying per se. She and Ginny Weasley had done their Ancient Runes assignments together every week since the first class. They worked quickly together and were able to spend some time talking. Ginny told Jude all about her brothers and her parents -- she hated being the only girl in her huge family -- and Jude told Ginny about her parents' divorce. Although divorces were very uncommon in the wizarding world (a marriage contract was considered a covenant, which was very hard to dissolve), Ginny had reacted quite well to Jude's revelation, asking how Laura felt about the divorce and telling Jude that she was justified in being angry at her father.  
  
Jude also spent a lot of time in the library working on the assignment for Professor Moody. Although the book that she had taken out of the restricted section gave some instructions on how to prepare a Portkey, it referenced a number of other difficult spells and potions. Some of the references were rather obscure, and it was rather difficult to prepare a scroll with all of the necessary instructions.  
  
When Potions finally ended, Jude tried to quickly escape the watchful eyes of Professor Snape, but his voice stopped her just a few meters from the door.  
  
"Miss Madley, a word please," he beckoned her to the front of the classroom.  
  
With no small amount of trepidation, Jude walked slowly towards him.  
  
"I see that you are taking an interest in your studies this term."  
  
"Er, um, yes."  
  
"I understand from your other professors that your performance has improved, especially in Charms and Transfiguration. Your mother must be pleased."  
  
"Who? I mean, I suppose yes," Jude said. What does he know about my mum? Jude wondered.  
  
"Yes, well," Snape continued, "I read your essay on the underage use of magic. It seems that you question the wisdom of those laws."  
  
"Ah . . .," Jude was worried that this conversation might yield an additional assignment, so she chose her words carefully, "I just was surprised that other places don't have the same restrictions. I don't know that one system is necessarily better than another. I just thought it was, er, interesting."  
  
"Hmm," Snape said, in a voice suggesting that he wasn't entirely certain whether to believe Jude, "interesting indeed."  
  
An awkward silence, which only Jude seemed to notice, descended. Then, abruptly, Snape turned away, dismissing Jude with a wave of his hand and disappearing into his office.  
  
* * *  
  
Sitting at his desk, Severus looked at the bottom drawer of his desk. The drawer was closed, but Severus knew exactly what would greet him if he opened it - a smiling face framed by blonde curls.  
  
He couldn't bring himself to open the drawer and see that face smiling at him the way it used to. Besides, there were other pictures in that drawer, pictures not only of Cassandra, but her father as well. Severus could not look at pictures of that man - at least not without several glasses of Old Ogdens.  
  
The hair is different he thought. No curls, and it is a different color than Cassandra. Her father must have had brown hair.  
  
But the thought that Cassandra Unschuldig had married and borne children with another man was too much. He hurried to the store closet, looking for a bottle.  
  
* * *  
  
A/N:  
  
Thank you so much to all of the readers who were kind enough to review. It is always such a pleasure to receive reviews. I appreciate all of your comments. As requested, this chapter elaborates on Snape's relationship with Jude's mother (but it doesn't explain everything!), and we also see more interactions between Jude and other canon characters. That Moody is such a sneak!  
  
Most of the information regarding ancient runes in this chapter was obtained from   
  
I realize that JKR has stated in an interview that Hogwarts has approximately one thousand students, but I wrote the portion of this chapter about class size before I read the interview. I decided not to change the chapter, because (despite JKR's comment) the books do not convey that there are that many students in the school. 


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